By Zephyria 
I considered going to the jeweler’s street to call Sam Marcus, but Spiritus, having heard my explanation, opened a door directly from the Imperial Palace reception room to the Lair.
As we squeezed through the space, we were about a meter above the familiar sofa. Spiritus landed on the plush seating, looked around, and let out a soft chuckle.
“…It’s nicely decorated. May I look around?”
“Yes. Please, feel free.”
Spiritus opened each door by hand, peering inside.
His steps, initially light, grew heavier. It was only now that I realized Spiritus could walk so slowly.
With a face creased like an elder who had endured long years, Spiritus meticulously examined each item. In the fifth room, he finally bit his lower lip and stopped.
His fingertips gently brushed against the hem of the first garment. He caressed the long lace dangling from the sleeve, then tenderly withdrew his hand. The longing in the Dragon’s eyes didn’t manifest as tears but escaped as a sigh.
After slowly surveying the room, she let out a hearty laugh.
“Wow, you’ve really collected things diligently. You’ve packed all of your parents’ belongings in here.”
“…Parents’ belongings?”
“Yes, the colors of the jewels here are so varied. Dragons usually consider their scale color the most beautiful, so they like to collect gems of the same color. Since Karzentia was a Red Dragon, there should have been more rubies, but you’ve collected them all by color. Anyone would think you were a Rainbow Dragon.”
“Ah.”
“Look at this. These are different sizes too. Whose are they? They must have been cherished. They’ve been handled a lot…”
“…”
Listening to her continuous laughter, I couldn’t understand why it felt like I was hearing crying. I simply walked silently behind Spiritus, also carefully observing the items her fingertips pointed to.
Then, she suddenly asked, her voice slightly choked, trying to sound indifferent.
“Did Gano write a book about that too? The one about all the Dragons dying early.”
“…”
I couldn’t answer. Spiritus took my silence as an answer and began to tell her own story.
“In the world I originally came from, there weren’t this few Dragons. There were thousands of Dragons, so that says it all. Because of that, there were all sorts of beings. Some would enjoy themselves by polymorphing and sometimes having children among humans.”
“…”
“Those born like that were called Dragonians. They weren’t born from eggs but in human form. But usually, by the time they reached about fifteen hundred years old, no one did that anymore. Do you know why?”
“…”
I shook my head slowly. Spiritus walked leisurely among the displayed clothes and continued.
“Dragonians live too short a life.”
“…Ah.”
“Even humans take ten months to give birth, but Dragons usually incubate their eggs for fifty to a hundred years. They lay only one egg at a time, and a newborn Hatchling is so fragile that it needs constant care for another five hundred years before it can truly act like a Dragon. Because of this, Dragons have very strong paternal and maternal instincts. It’s one of the few instincts we possess.”
“…”
“It’s truly an unimaginable pain for a child to die before you. Even if it’s a child conceived through polymorphing, born in just ten months.”
Spiritus stopped walking abruptly. I didn’t know the history of the jewels she was looking at. But Spiritus traced the top of the display cabinet with her fingertips with a tender demeanor. Again, a sigh escaped instead of tears.
“So, back then, there were many like that.”
“…Like what?”
“Those foolish beings who tried to shorten their own lives to give to their children. Even for an Ancient Dragon, the success rate is only about 30%, so how much could a newly turned Adult Dragon achieve? It was forbidden by order of the Dragon Lord, as it was a direct path to becoming a Mad Dragon. Still, there were so many who tried to secretly save their children…”
A similar thing happened in this land.
Indeed, about 500 years after the world was created, the third generation of Dragons emerged, meaning even non-adult Hatchlings struggled to save their own young.
Spiritus stared into the display cabinet without blinking.
“…How short was their lifespan…?”
“Was it about 200 years at most to be considered long-lived? It was far too short.”
“…”
I see. At least I understood it wasn’t by human standards.
“Anyway, it was like that in this world too. When the second generation was about to have offspring, I was so furious that I gave up, so I only heard rumors about Karzentia and never even saw her face. Still, looking at what’s collected now, there are many familiar things.”
“…In this world. Even when Dragons mated, was their lifespan that short?”
“Yes. They were too young to pass on proper Mana to the eggs they laid. How could those born from immature eggs be healthy?”
Spiritus, rubbing her face with her hands as if to crumple it, turned and looked at Ikyun.
He was smiling bitterly.
“Originally, I should have taken care of them, but at that time, I had only recently escaped the aftermath of the war and was seething with anger almost every day. I thought if I exposed them to Mana and incubated the eggs, they would all be born as Mad Dragons, so I ran away, and that’s how it happened. Well, it’s all my fault…”
“…”
“Now, when I think about it, I regret it. The creation of a race as massive and influential as Dragons is something that can only happen when the world is first made… It’s become irreversible now.”
When I first awoke in this land, I was Namgung Jeong-yeon, who had died in the midst of the Demon War.
If I had awakened as a god immediately, without experiencing a peaceful childhood, what would I be like now?
It wasn’t hard to imagine. If I had no blood relatives to anchor me to this land, no family to protect, and hadn’t learned about the world by mingling with young, pitiable friends, I would have been no different from Spiritus.
As much as I was grateful, I felt apologetic, and as much as I felt apologetic, I felt embarrassed.
I remained silent, unable to say a word. Spiritus, weaving through the heavy silence, examined the belongings of Karzentia and the previous Dragons left as relics. Then she suddenly spoke.
“Anyway, thank you for showing me. Still, I heard she died as a Human in the end, but it seems she was still a Dragon after all.”
“…This isn’t all of it.”
“Then?”
I led Spiritus to the fourth storage room.
Previously, I had pushed aside a statue and placed another display cabinet over the opening to block it. I had set it up as a precaution in case Sam Marcus entered alone and encountered Golems, but as I moved the statue and stepped further inside, Spiritus let out a breath of utter disbelief.
Was she reading something in this temple-like interior as well?
However, unlike Ruben, Spiritus didn’t offer detailed explanations. She just kept sighing, “Hmph,” and “Ha,” until I opened the altar-like box.
Ruben had said that the center piece of the tiara inside this box was likely a Dragon Heart.
Rubel knew the names of all the types of jewels in this world. The only mineral that Ruben knew existed in this world but had never seen or heard a description of was the Dragon Heart.
It wasn’t a Mana Stone because it wasn’t translucent, it didn’t resemble any other gem in color or appearance, and placed in such a special, sacred location, combined with Karzentia’s name, nothing else came to mind but Dragon Heart.
According to legend, a Dragon Heart, though appearing ordinary, contained a vast amount of Duality Mana and could cause a massive explosion if mishandled. Therefore, it was best to keep it hidden in its original location, so I had forgotten about it.
But if I forgot, would Ruben forget? The child had sent me to resolve his lingering curiosity as soon as he saw Spiritus.
As I had learned, all I had to do was rearrange the reliefs in the correct order. The box opened easily, revealing its contents.
Spiritus, who had been bustling about, stopped dead as soon as the box opened.
“…Haha, what is this?”
“It is said to be a precious item that Karzentia cherished greatly. Perhaps…”
“Uh-huh, that’s right. This is a Dragon egg.”
“What?”
An egg?
This small?
Spiritus didn’t even touch the open box with a fingertip. She even held her breath, carefully turning her head to the side and lowering her voice.
Like an elder seeing her grandchild for the first time, worried about waking a sleeping child.
“Karzentia also… laid an egg. I didn’t know.”
According to Spiritus’s explanation, Dragons lay eggs oviparously. This thumb-sized egg grew by consuming the parents’ Mana. While most creatures’ eggs don’t change in shell size, a Dragon’s egg is fundamentally similar to the metamorphosis of a Magical Creature.
Once the egg grew to about 1 to 5 meters in size, when the shell no longer expanded, it marked the beginning of a new birth.
Karzentia apparently didn’t have enough Mana to nurture the egg. She carried it around constantly to incubate it, but since the egg didn’t grow at all, she placed it in a secret spot within the Lair she had prepared before her death and died above ground.
I stood there speechless, looking down at the egg.
It felt like opening a child’s coffin. I didn’t know what kind of heart Karzentia had carried the precious tiara with the egg attached.
As I reached to close the box again, Spiritus grabbed my forearm to stop me.
“…Do you want to raise it?”
“What?”
“This is no different from an unsprouted seed. A Dragon’s traits usually follow its parents because it grows by consuming the parents’ Mana. There are no more Dragons in this land, are there? How about you raise it and let it live as a Human?”
“…Me?”
“Yes. This one too… given its mother, it will only live for a little over a hundred years at most.”
Spiritus looked down at the egg as if it were something deeply pitiful.
“If it mistakenly believes it’s Human, it will think it has lived a long life even if it only lives that long. Coincidentally, your spouse is a Sword Master. From what I see, if your Mana and their Mana are combined, you might get a decent child.”
“…No, that’s…”
“Don’t you feel sorry for it? This tiny thing is here underground without a guardian.”
I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t utter a word. As I stood there blankly staring at the egg, Spiritus shook my arm and continued.
“Let me tell you in advance, 1-2 years won’t be enough. For at least 5 years, you’ll need to give it a Mana shower at least once a week, maintain the temperature, and roll it around occasionally. Right now, it’s completely hardened, but after about a year, it will start moving inside the egg, breathing, and chirping.”
“…Hoo…”
“Dragons usually raise their young alone… but since you have a spouse, you should discuss it.”
“…Discuss…”
“Discuss it, but if possible, decide to raise it. I think you’re perfect for it.”
A child?
…Mine and Ruben’s?